Let's just bloody well get on with it now

Oh for goodness sake, stop moaning and man up. PRWeek just hosted a round table in a penthouse looking out over the bay of Cannes and the overwhelming sentiment of the assembled guests was that we need to be louder and prouder of what we do.

Ruth Wyatt: 'We will work to create a presence at the festival that the industry can be proud of and we intend to target every aspect of the festival.'

In a nutshell: grow some balls. No pun intended. It is the morning after the night before, unlike last year when it was more of the mourning.

Last year, I’m told that PR folk were dragging the corners of their mouths along La Croisette as they beat themselves up for being so crap.

No gold Lions were won by PR professionals last year. In 2013 six gold gongs were bagged – hurrah. But an ad agency won the Grand Prix for the fifth year running – boo.

Now, rather than beating themselves up over their collective failure, which is nothing of the sort by the way, a significant group of industry leaders have agreed to take the fight on the front foot.

An initial group of six agencies, led and championed by PRWeek, have agreed to band together to champion the cause of PR at Cannes. We will campaign to give the industry the recognition it requires and deserves as a proper creative discipline.

Together we will work to create a presence at the festival that the industry can be truly proud of and we intend to target every aspect of the festival.

Together we will lobby the organisers about the value PR can bring to the main festival programme; we will seek to educate agencies on how to craft winning entries; we will publish together a social calendar that reflects the successes of professionals. I could go on.

The Cannes Plan is still in its formative stages. We have literally just pledged to join forces in order to put PR on the Cannes map.

PRWeek will publish a detailed account of the discussions that have just concluded in a feature in the 5 July issue and I’ll keep you informed of developments as they happen.

One last thought. The chair of the PR judges, Ketchum chief executive of EMEA David Gallagher, made this plea: ‘For the love of god, don’t tell us the value of your publicity, it just pisses the judges off.’ I’ll drink a glass of rosé to that.